Here he is, finally. Russian action film of category B. Category A sometimes makes itself felt, breaks its face on a box office failure and hides for an indefinite period, category C happily lives a unique life on NTV - this, of course, is all wonderful, but for a long time I have been wanting grindhouse to appear. An action film that does not sit on the needle of attracting the masses due to the modest budget, while it is clearly far from television handicraft.
Speaking of genre. The trailer raised some concerns that it was a comedy that would involve two or three fights. However, on the contrary, "Russian Raid" is as full of movement as the well-known masterpiece with a similar name. I would even say non-stop mode, almost everything that happens in an hour and forty is either action or a red carpet for the same thing. What was surprising is that the plot is presented in a serious form, but the key characters are caricatures: an extremely valiant ex-warrior with a hard look, in fact, no less than a samurai; bullish sportsmen who differ from their perestroika prototypes only in their mixfighter style; thieves' queens, drawing on people's money and thieves' lives; the unafraid one who has everything figured out, but nothing has been thought through; oh, a lady in trouble, where would we be without her? This contrast works great, fatalistic indifference in the best traditions of Hong Kong: massacre is massacre, and positivity is on schedule. In addition, comedic notes are detected, only this is humor "Russian raid" does not lend itself to academic characterization, it is somehow transcendental and everyday. That is, moments are funny that, outside the context of the general perception of the film, would not be jokes as such. For example, I was filled with laughter when a bullet hit one of the characters; When I thought about where, in fact, there is humor here, the answer went into the jungle of screenwriting. Simply put, a break in the pattern worked, like, no, well, this doesn’t happen, this can’t happen to a character of this role. "Russian Raid" plays a double game: uses hackneyed clichés, furtively mocking them. Just look at the jumping urkagan, who will reveal himself in an unexpected form.
At first it seems that the film follows not only the philosophical, but also the martial tradition of British Hong Kong - there was a fight in the beginning and middle, and a little shooting at the end - but no, the shooting here is not dessert, but the second course in the meal. However, I don’t particularly want to talk about them; They are not that exciting or, on the contrary, disastrous, rather mundane, boring enough for the excitement after the climax to cool down, but not enough to significantly deteriorate the overall impression of the film.
So, fights. Their quality grows from the beginning to the end of the climax. First, raiders face bots; and here is a classic of mediocre hand-to-hand combat: the guards wave their batons, not really approaching the mercenaries, which they predictably use, dodging and counterattacking. But I note that the mercenaries move quickly, they hit with gusto, we are dealing with contact choreography in Asian style. And when the bandits meet the bodyguards, the viewer enjoys perhaps the most thoughtful and meticulously staged wall-to-wall action in cinema history. Well, the apogee of the fight festival is the internecine fight of the Gopnik-mixfighter (Vladimir Mineev) against warriors (Ivan Kotik), revealing the clash of ring tightness with army pragmatism. But the battle of the warrior against the main commander turned out to be too realistic, and therefore devoid of movie magic. As for the ratio of drama and action, the interweaving turned out to be dense; so you understand, the acting and chemistry between the opponents is so expressive that during the battle between the thugs and the head of security against the raiders, I wanted to raise my fist and shout “Yes, come on!”, as if cheering for a football team in real time.
Place "Russian raid" in world cinema the same as in the first part "Collectors": not polished to a shine, but made by masters of their craft and with a clear conscience, a category B action movie. A grimy nugget with a hole in his pocket, disarming with his charm. No, alas, this is not a lever film that would give rise to a niche of action-grindhouses in Russian cinema, no, such joy will not come to us from heaven under the yoke of the Cinema Fund. Yes, "Outpost" (cool action movie) and "Balkan Frontier" (a very cool action movie) also failed at the box office, but their equally high-budget followers will not be long in coming, since films like "Outpost" can gradually accustom Russians to buy blockbusters made in RF, and films like "Balkan Frontier" - to inspire the masses with some political ideas, and the state likes to allocate subsidies for this. "Russian Raid" but, for all its coolness, it is not needed by the masses, because it’s the 20s, and the masses are no longer the same... It will disappear into history, leaving a mark in the hearts of a few gourmets.
PS “Your concepts are to be eaten in one face” - I’m taking the phrase into service.
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Tags: Vladimir Mineev, Ivan Kotik, Russian raid
Tags: Vladimir Mineev, Ivan Kotik, Russian raid
I haven’t watched Russian action films with such pleasure since “The Hungt for Piranha.” And considering the quality of the fights, it’s not like “Lotus Strike”.